Our Father's Love:

Christ's Love for the Church

Also See: Jesus (Topic Page)

"Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." (St. Paul, Eph. 5:25-27)

Also See: Church (Topical Scripture)

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Christ's Passion / Sufferings

Also See: Way of the Cross (Topic Page)

"We love a thing in proportion to what it has cost us. You may judge by that of our Lord's love for our soul, which has cost him his Blood." (St. John Vianney)

"Look at His adorable Face. Look at His glazed and sunken eyes. Look at His wounds. Look Jesus in the Face. There, you will see how He loves us." (St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church)

"Mount Calvary is the academy of love." (St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)

So many are the things which display at once God's infinite power and His equally infinite wisdom and goodness, that wherever we turn our eyes or direct our thoughts, we meet with the most certain signs of omnipotence and benignity. And yet there is truly nothing that more eloquently proclaims His supreme love and admirable charity towards us, than the inexplicable mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ, whence springs that never-failing fountain to wash away the defilements of sin. (It is this fountain) in which, under the guidance and bounty of God, we desire to be merged and purified, when we beg of Him to forgive us our debts." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"When we meditate on the sufferings and all the torments of the Redeemer, nothing is better calculated to stir our souls than the thought that He endured them thus voluntarily. Were anyone to endure all kinds of suffering for our sake, not because he chose them, but simply because he could not escape them, we should not consider this a very great favor; but were he to endure death freely, and for our sake only, having had it in his power to avoid it, this indeed would be a benefit so overwhelming as to deprive even the most grateful heart, not only of the power of returning but even of feeling due thanks. We may hence form an idea of the transcendent and intense love of Jesus Christ towards us, and of His divine and boundless claims to our gratitude." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"Do you not know? - the Lord died to forgive you... The Lord suffered an agonizing death in order not to condemn you."

"Indeed, nothing is greater than yourself, and you have given yourself to mankind on the cross. " (St. Columbanus)

"...the Master takes upon Himself the stripes belonging to the servant, the servant is glorified by the glory of the Master. That is why the cross can be called the cross of the Lord of Glory, and why every tongue can confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord." (St. Gregory of Nyssa, circa 380 A.D.)

"...the Innocent One would then overcome [the evil one]…and thus would make captive the captivity that was brought about by sin, and would liberate us from a captivity that, by reason of sin, was a just one, by deleting the promissory note of death and by redeeming sinners, who were to be justified by the unjust shedding of His just blood." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, circa 407 A.D.)

"What was the life of Christ but a perpetual humiliation?" (St. Vincent de Paul)

"[Our Lord Christ] took upon Himself the toils of the suffering members, and He made our ills His own, and in accord with the laws of the love of mankind, He endured exceeding pain and toiled beyond measure for all of us. Not this only did the Lamb of God do, but He also endured chastisement and punishment on our behalf, which He did not Himself deserve...He made Himself the source of the remission of our sins, even undergoing death for us." (Proof of the Gospel, circa 316-322 A.D.)

"Thus the love of Jesus Christ the Son of God, by the sacrifice of Golgotha, cast a flood of light on the meaning of the love of God Himself: 'In this we know the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.' And in truth it was more by love than by the violence of the executioners that our divine Redeemer was fixed to the Cross; and His voluntary total offering is the supreme gift which He gave to each man, according to that terse saying of the Apostles, 'He loved me, and delivered Himself for me.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"What is here written of the side of Christ, opened by the wound from the soldier, should also be said of the Heart which was certainly reached by the stab of the lance, since the soldier pierced it precisely to make certain that Jesus Christ crucified was really dead. Hence the wound of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, now that He has completed His mortal life, remains through the course of the ages a striking image of that spontaneous charity by which God gave His only begotten Son for the redemption of men and by which Christ expressed such passionate love for us that He offered Himself as a bleeding victim on Calvary for our sake: 'Christ loved us and delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"It is important then to consider, in what condition He ascends the cross; for I see Him naked. Let him then who prepares to overcome the world, so ascend that he seek not the conveniences of the world. Now Adam was overcome who sought for a covering. He overcame who laid aside His covering. He ascends such as nature formed us, God being our Creator. Such as the first man had dwelt in paradise, such did the second man enter paradise. But about to ascend the cross rightly, did He lay aside His royal garments, that you may know that He suffered not as God, but as man, though Christ is both." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"[I]t was ...love of a suffering God that saved the world" (Pope Pius XI, "Caritate Christi Compulsi", 1932)

"Beneath the cross one learns to Love" [St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)]

"Let Him be fixed deep in your heart, who for you was fastened to the cross" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"That man should be delivered by Christ's Passion was in keeping with both His mercy and His justice. With His justice, because by His Passion Christ made satisfaction for the sins of the human race, and so man was set free by Christ's justice; and with His mercy, for since man of himself could not satisfy for the sin of all human nature, God gave him His Son to satisfy for him. And this came of a more copious mercy than if he had forgiven sins without satisfaction: Hence St. Paul says: 'God, who is rich in mercy, by reason of His very great love wherewith He has loved us even when we were dead by reason of our sins, brought us to life together with Christ.' (St. Thomas Aquinas)" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"When now nought of suffering remains to be endured, death still lingers, knowing that it has nothing there. The ancient foe suspected somewhat unusual. This man, first and only, he found having no sin, free from guilt, owing nothing to the laws of his jurisdiction. But leagued with Jewish madness, Death comes again to the assault, and desperately invades the Life-giver. And Jesus, when be had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Wherefore should we be offended that Christ came from the bosom of the Father to take upon Him our bondage, that He might confer on us His freedom; to take upon Him our death, that we might be set free by His death; by despising death He exalted us mortals into Gods, counted them of earth worthy of things in heaven? For seeing the Divine power shines forth so brilliant in the contemplation of its works, it is an argument of boundless love, that it suffers for its subjects, dies for its bondsmen. This then was the first cause of the Lord's Passion, that He would have it known how great God's love to man, Who desired rather to be loved than feared. The second was that He might abolish with yet more justice the sentence of death which He had with justice passed. For as the first man had by guilt incurred death through God's sentence, and handed down the same to his posterity, the second Man, who knew no sin, came from heaven that death might be condemned, which, when commissioned to seize the guilty, had presumed to touch the Author of sinlessness. And it is no wonder if for us He laid down what He had taken of us, His life, namely, when He has done other so great things for us, and bestowed so much on us." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Christ's Passion (Topical Scripture) | The Trials & Sorrows of Jesus | The Passion / The Cross (Catholic Basics Reflections)

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The Holy Eucharist

Also See: Holy Eucharist / Communion (Topic Page)

"No tongue can express the greatness of the love which Jesus Christ bears to our souls. He did not wish that between Him and His servants there should be any other pledge than Himself, to keep alive the remembrance of Him." (St. Peter of Alcantara)

"You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?" (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant. How few reflect that Jesus loves them that much in the Most Blessed Sacrament." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"Go to Jesus. He loves you and is waiting for you to give you many graces. He is on the altar surrounded by angels adoring and praying. Let them make some room for you and join them in doing what they do." (St. Mary Joseph Rossello)

"Eternal Wisdom, on the one hand, wished to prove his love for man by dying in his place in order to save him, but on the other hand, he could not bear the thought of leaving him. So he devised a marvelous way of dying and living at the same time, and of abiding with man until the end of time. So, in order to fully satisfy his love, he instituted the sacrament of Holy Eucharist and went to the extent of changing and overturning nature itself." (St. Louis de Montfort)

"Residing continually in our Tabernacles, Jesus Christ is deserted, misunderstood by ungrateful men; and yet he continues to love us; to serve us in the Sacrament of the Altar." (St. John Vianney)

"Do you know why our Lord persists in remaining day and night in our churches?... He stays there so that every time we want to go and see him, we may be able to find him." (St. John Vianney)

"To show the love He has for us, He has made it possible for those who desire it not merely to look upon Him, but even to touch Him and to consume Him and to fix their teeth in His flesh and to be commingled with Him - in short, to fulfill all their love." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

"'Eat My Flesh,' He says, 'and drink My Blood.' The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutriments. He delivers over His Flesh, and pours out His Blood; and nothing is lacking for the growth of His children." (St. Clement of Alexandria, circa 3rd century A.D.)

"The mind is greatly moved by realizing Christ's presence on the altar, but when it further reflects that He comes to us because His affection for us is like that of the betrothed for his bride, which will not allow him to pass a single day without seeing and conversing with her, the Christian wishes he had a thousand hearts wherewith to make a fitting return for such love. He longs to cry out with St. Augustine: 'Domine, quid tibi sum, quia jubes me diligere te? Quid tibi sum? Lord, what am I to Thee, what Thou shouldst bid me love Thee? What am I to Thee?' Thy dost Thou so fervently desire to see and to embrace me? Thou, who dost dwell in heaven in company with those who understand so well how Thou shouldst be served and loved, dost come to me, who only know how to offend Thee or to render Thee slack service. Canst not Thou, then, O my Lord, be happy without me, that my love should Draw Thee down to me? O blessed mayst Thou be, who being what Thou art, hast yet set Thy heart upon such a creature as me! Can it be that Thou, King as Thou art, dost come here and dost place Thyself in my hand, and seem to say: 'I Died once for thy sake and I come to thee now to show thee that I do not repent of it, but on the contrary that, if there were need, I would give my life for thee a second time?' Who could remain unmoved by such love? who could hide himself, O Lord, from Thy burning Heart, which warms our own by its very presence, and is like a mighty furnace, throwing out sparks of fire on all around it? Such a Lord as this...visits us from heaven, and we, wretches as we are, [converse] with Him and receive Him within our breasts!" (St. John of Avila to a priest, circa 1560 A.D.)

"When you visit Him, He forgets your sins and speaks only of His joy, His tenderness, and His Love. By the reception He gives to you, one would think He has need of you to make Him happy." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

"To you be praise indeed, O eternal God, and endless thanksgiving for the fact that you deigned to become a human being and that for us in the world you willed to consecrate your venerable Body out of material bread and lovingly bestow it on us as food for the salvation of our souls!" (St. Bridget of Sweden)

"We have become one body, and 'limbs of His flesh and of His bones.' Let those who are initiated understand what I am saying. So that we may become this not only by love only but even in every need, let us be blended into that flesh. This blending is effected by the Food which He has given, in His desire to demonstrate to us the fond love that He has for us. That is why He has commingled Himself with us, and has kneaded up His body into us, so that we might subsist as a kind of unit, like a body joined to a head." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, circa 391 A.D.)

"Nothing contributes more to the spiritual joy and advantage of pious persons than the contemplation of the exalted dignity of this most august Sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist]. In the first place they learn how great is the perfection of the Gospel Dispensation, under which we enjoy the reality of that which under the Mosaic Law was only shadowed forth by types and figures. Hence St. Denis divinely says that our Church is midway between the Synagogue and the heavenly Jerusalem, and consequently participates of the nature of both. Certainly, then, the faithful can never sufficiently admire the perfection of the holy Church and her exalted glory which seems to be removed only by one degree from the bliss of heaven. In common with the inhabitants of heaven, we too possess Christ, God and man, present with us. They are raised a degree of us, inasmuch as they are present with Christ and enjoy the Beatific Vision; while we, with a firm and unwavering faith, adore the Divine Majesty present with us, not it is true, in a manner visible to mortal eye, but hidden in a miracle of power under the veil of the sacred mysteries. Furthermore the faithful experience in this Sacrament the most perfect love of Christ our Savior. It became the goodness of the Savior not to withdraw from us that nature which He assumed from us, but to desire, as far as possible, to remain among us so that at all times He might be seen to verify the words: My delight is to be with the children of men. (Prov. viii. 31)." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"Nor will it be easy to understand the strength of the love which moved Christ to give Himself to us as our spiritual food save by fostering in a special way the devotion to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, the purpose of which is - to use the words of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII - 'to call to mind the act of supreme love whereby our Redeemer, pouring forth all the treasures of His Heart in order to remain with us till the end of time, instituted the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"To the unbloody gift of Himself under the appearance of bread and wine our Savior Jesus Christ wished to join, as the chief proof of His deep and infinite love, the bloody sacrifice of the Cross. By this manner of acting He gave an example of His supreme charity, which He had proposed to His disciples as the highest point of love in these words: 'Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"He who communicates (receives Holy Communion) most frequently will be freest from sin, and will make farthest progress in Divine Love." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)

"Our Lord did something infinitely great when He gave Himself wholly to us through His living and personal presence in the adorable Eucharist. Our Savior could not possibly have given us a greater, more tender and more ardent proof of love. It is beyond human intellect to grasp and understand this love. Not even the highest of celestial spirits are capable of comprehending or penetrating the infinite and unfathomable depths of this love. In wondrous amazement the angelic hosts offer praise and adoration to their God made man, present under the species of bread." (Fr. Etlin)

"When you see It (the Body of Christ) exposed, say to yourself: Thanks to this body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a freeman: hence I hope to obtain heaven and the good things that are there in store for me, eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this body which was pierced by nails and scourged,...this is that body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water...This body He gave to us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

Also See: Holy Eucharist / Mass (Sacraments Reflections) | The Holy Eucharist (Sacraments Section) | Latin Mass & Catholic Tradition

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The Incarnation

Also See: Jesus (Topic Page)

"Almighty God, in the excess of His love for us, takes upon Himself the form of lowly man." (Pope Leo XIII, "Magnae Dei Matris", 1892)

"Since God is approaching man, it is not a degradation, but a triumph of His love, that He should come so far down to meet him." (Benson)

"The Crib of Bethlehem, even had there never been the Sacrifice of Calvary, would of itself be sufficient to convince us of [the Love of God]. God comes down from heaven for the sake of his creature, man; he himself becomes Man, nay, a Child, and is laid in a manger! Such miracles of love would have sufficed to save the guilty world; how then shall they not have power to prompt men to give their whole heart to their loving God?" (Gueranger)

"Now the only-begotten Son of God embraced us in His infinite knowledge and undying love even before the world began. And that He might give a visible and exceedingly beautiful expression to this love, He assumed our nature in hypostatic union" (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943)

"...it is for sinners that he came, that he might save them: it was with sinners that he so humbly conversed, and at least gave himself to sinners, that he might be their food." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)

"Nothing was so necessary for raising our hope as to show us how deeply God loved us. And what could afford us a stronger proof of this than that the Son of God should become a partner with us of human nature?" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"He also who for our sakes took upon him all our conditions, put on our garments, the signs of Adam's death, that He might put them off, and in their stead clothe us with life and incorruption. It follows, And they parted his raiment among them, and cast lots." (St. Athanasius, Doctor of the Church)

"The holy Fathers, true witnesses of the divinely revealed doctrine, wonderfully understood what St. Paul the Apostle had quite clearly declared; namely, that the mystery of love was, as it were, both the foundation and the culmination of the Incarnation and the Redemption. For frequently and clearly we can read in their writings that Jesus Christ took a perfect human nature and our weak and perishable human body with the object of providing for our eternal salvation, and of revealing to us in the clearest possible manner that His infinite love for us could express itself in human terms." (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"When the faithful have placed these things before their eyes, let them also reflect that God condescended to assume the lowliness and frailty of our flesh in order to exalt man to the highest degree of dignity. This single reflection, that He who is true and perfect God became man, supplies sufficient proof of the exalted dignity conferred on the human race by the divine bounty; since we may now glory that the Son of God is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, a privilege not given to Angels, for nowhere, says the Apostle, doth he take hold of the Angels: but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold (Heb. 2:16)." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"The Lord says that it was on this account that He Himself came down from heaven to the world, taking leave of the ranks and armies of the angels…It was to this end that he Word put on humanity: that He might overcome the serpent, and that He might Himself put down the condemnation which had first come into being when man was ruined. For it was fitting that the evil one should be conquered not by another, but by that one whom he had deceived, and whom he was boasting that he held in subjection. In no other way could sin and condemnation be destroyed, except by that same man's being created anew, - he of whom it was said: 'Earth you are, and unto earth you shall return,' - and this by his undoing the sentence which, because of him, Christ, who put on Adam, all are made to live." (St. Methodius of Philippi, circa 299 A.D.)

Consequently, the Son of God entered into these lowly conditions of the world, after descending from His celestial throne, and though He did not withdraw from the glory of the Father, He was generated in a new order and in a new nativity. In a new order, because invisible in His own, He was made visible in ours; incomprehensible [in His own], He wished to be comprehended; permanent before times, He began to be in time; the Lord of the universe assumed the form of a slave, concealing the immensity of His majesty; the impassible God did not disdain to be a passible man and the immortal [did not disdain] to be subject to the laws of death. Moreover, He was generated in a new nativity, because inviolate virginity [that] did not know concupiscence furnished the material of His body. From the mother of the Lord, nature, not guilt, was assumed; and in the Lord Jesus Christ born from the womb of the Virgin, because His birth was miraculous, nature was not for that reason different from ours. For He who is true God, is likewise true man, and there is no falsehood in this unity, as long as there are alternately the lowliness of man and the exaltedness of the Divinity. For, just as God is not changed by His compassion, so man is not destroyed by His dignity. For each nature does what is proper to it with the mutual participation of the other; the Word clearly effecting what belongs to the Word, and the flesh performing what belongs to the flesh. One of these gleams with miracles; the other sinks under injuries. And just as the Word does not withdraw from the equality of the paternal glory, so His body does not abandon the nature of our race. (Pope St. Leo The Great, Doctor of the Church, 449 A.D.)

Also See: Incarnation / Nativity (Catholic Basics Reflections)

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Jesus' Love & Kindness

Also See: Jesus (Topic Page)

"Let us open the door of the Sacred Heart, and shut ourselves in for a moment amidst its divine flames; we shall then realize what God's love means." (St. John Vianney)

"All Jesus Christ did, he did for us. His prayers, his tears, his watchings, his fasting, his preaching, his journeys, his conversations, his miracles - all those were for us." (St. John Vianney)

"The knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of which we were the object from the first moment of his Incarnation, exceed all the human intellect can hope to grasp." (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943 A.D.)

"Our Lord took that good Heart of his that he might love us with it." (St. John Vianney)

"He gave Himself wholly to you: He left nothing to himself." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church) 

"The One who is our very life descended into our world, and bore our death, and slew it with the abundance of His own life. Thundering, He called out to us to return to Him in heaven." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)

"What heart so cold as not to be inflamed with love by the kindness and good will exercised toward us by so great a Lord, who, though holding us in His power and dominion as slaves ransomed by His blood, yet embraces us with such ardent love as to call us not servants, but friends and brethren? This, assuredly, supplies the most just, and perhaps the strongest, claim to induce us always to acknowledge, venerate, and adore Him as or Lord." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)

"O marvelous condescension of divine love for us! O inestimable dispensation of boundless charity! In the crib, on the Cross, in the unending glory of the Father, Christ has all the members of the Church present before Him and united to Him in a much clearer and more loving manner than that of a mother who clasps her child to her breast, or than that with which a man knows and loves himself." (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943)

"As 'in the days of His flesh,' so now victorious in heaven, He makes His petition to His heavenly Father with equal efficacy, to Him 'Who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting,' He shows His living Heart, wounded as it were, and throbbing with a love yet more intense than when it was wounded in death by the Roman soldier's lance: '(Thy Heart) has been wounded so that through the visible wound we may behold the invisible wound of love.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"He called them, in fact, His friends, His children, His little children, His little flock. He showed them the indulgence of a mother, the patience and the careful attention of the tender teacher. Having received all, so that He could say to them, 'You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you,' they could still quarrel among themselves for the first place beside Him. But He did not scold them. Instead, He took a little child upon His knees, kissed it, and said, 'Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.' He anticipated their faults and comforted them in advance, so that they might feel less the gnawings of remorse. And He did this also in regard to their desertion of Him: He raised them up before they fell." (Sertillanges)

"It was to pay honor to this divine charity which, overflowing from the Heart of the Incarnate Word, is poured out by the aid of the Holy Spirit into the souls of all believers that the Apostle of the Gentiles uttered this hymn of triumph which proclaims the victory of Christ the Head, and of the members of His Mystical Body, over all which might in any way impede the establishment of the kingdom of love among men: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?...But in all these things we overcome because of Him that hath loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)

"He became man so that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself in the flesh, so that we might grasp the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men, so that we might receive the inheritance of immorality." (St. Athanasius, Doctor of the Church, circa 318 A.D.)

"The Lord then wished to release him from his bonds. Having put on flesh - this is a divine mystery - He vanquished the serpent and enslaved the tyrant death; and most wonderful of all, man, who had been deceived by pleasure and bound by corruption, had his hands unbound and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up! He that fell from Paradise receives even better as the reward for obedience: heaven itself." (St. Clement of Alexandria, circa 200 A.D.)

"There [Mary Magdalen] remained in tears before the door of the sepulcher even though His disciples had departed. That was why she was found worthy to behold Him alive whose dead body she had been seeking, and she it was who announced to the disciples His resurrection. So through the wonderful providence of God's goodness, a woman's lips brought the news of life because in Paradise a woman's lips had dealt death. On a second occasion also, in company with the other Mary, she saw our Lord after He had risen, drew near to Him, and clung to His feet. Pause, I beg you, and consider precisely whose feet they were, and what the hands that clasped them. The women we are talking about, the city's most notorious sinner, touched with her polluted hands the feet of Him who sits at the right hand of the Father, high above the angels. Let us try to penetrate if we can, to probe the inmost depths of this heavenly love, on whose wings grace bears aloft a woman whom sin had plunged into the depths of the abyss. Here, beloved daughter, here you see the fulfillment of the promise given us by the prophet, when his voice proclaimed this era of Holy Church: In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman (Zec. 13:1). Truly has the house of David become to us an open fountain for the cleansing of sinners, for in it we are washed from the filth in the open stream of His mercy by the Son of David, our Savior." (St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, 6th century A.D.)

Also See: God's Love

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The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Also See: Sacred Heart of Jesus (Topic Page)

"He showed His Heart to us bearing about it the symbols of the passion and displaying the flames of love, that from the one we might know the infinite malice of sin, and in the other we might admire the infinite charity of Our Redeemer, and so might have a more vehement hatred of sin, and make a more ardent return of love for His love." (Pope Pius XI, "Miserentissimus Redemptor", 1928)

Also See: Jesus' Love & Kindness | Prayers / Devotions Section

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